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Start Talking

Are you looking for a new, engaging way to educate young people about dating abuse?

Do your students desire a more interactive experience that helps them define healthy relationships in their own terms?

Are you ready to become an “Ultimate Advocate” for loveisrespect?

If you answered YES to any of these questions, the Start Talking campaign is here for YOU.

Launched in 2012 as a three-year initiative to prevent and end dating abuse in Illinois, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas, the Start Talking campaign has now gone national! Through it, teens, parents, teachers and service providers are receiving tools and resources they need to promote healthy relationships.

On this page, you’ll find information about the innovative Start Talking Curriculum. Here’s helpful information from the pilot program:

A searchable service directory for young people in IL, OK, NM and TX to find help in their local communities.

If you received a toolkit in the pilot phase and need help accessing the web app, please contact SThelp@www.loveisrespect.org.

And don’t forget to explore the rest of www.loveisrespect.org for more information on preventing dating abuse and building healthy relationships.

Loveisrespect and Blue Cross Blue Shield believe every young person deserves a healthy relationship. Join us as we Start Talking about dating abuse and help make safer homes, safer schools and safer communities.

To learn more about bringing the program to your school and/or community, please contact the Break the Cycle team at curriculum@breakthecycle.org.

*For educators or group leaders giving out loveisrespect’s contact information to their classes/groups: we’ve found that an effective way to provide this information is by handing out cards with our contact information. If you have the technological capabilities, another option is to demonstrate to your class how to chat or text with us. This prevents a large number of students chatting or texting us at the same time, which can be a strain on our resources. We appreciate your cooperation, and thank you for spreading awareness about loveisrespect!

Starting in 2012, loveisrespect partnered with Blue Cross and Blue Shield plans in Illinois, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas to inspire young people to start talking about healthy relationships.

Together, we’ve brought the expert guidance of loveisrespect into schools, youth groups, medical offices, malls and homes, making sure every teen knew they have the right to safe and healthy relationship. Through the Blue Cross Blue Shield Start Talking campaign, we:

Created 1,000 Start Talking kits, including a new curriculum authored by loveisrespect

Distributed FREE kits to schools, youth programs and service providers in Illinois, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas

Provided resources for parents and adults available through Blue Cross and Blue Shield health care providers

Connected young people in abusive relationships to the immediate help at loveisrespect and local resources in their community

In 2015, the Start Talking program expanded nationally!

The new Start Talking curriculum from loveisrespect, a project of Break the Cycle and the National Domestic Violence Hotline, is an innovative step forward in dating violence prevention education and creating cultures of healthy relationships.

From peer-led discussions, opportunities for participants to contribute their opinions and interactive tools integrated throughout the program, students will have the chance to define relationships in their terms and discover for themselves what it means to have a safe and healthy relationship.

How Start Talking works:

Youth-Led: Adults support youth leaders to facilitate sessions for their peers

Flexible: Can be implemented once a week, bi-weekly or throughout the semester totaling ten sessions lasting 40-60 minutes each

Knowledge and Service Learning: Sessions 1-6 focus on education, investigation and skill development, while sessions 7-10 provide an opportunity for peer-led service learning

Multimedia: Online slideshow with relatable content and popular media for students to analyze

Loveisrespect is the ultimate source of support for young people to prevent and end dating abuse, inspiring them to create a culture of healthy relationships. We reach more than 1.5 million young people annually through educational programs, online resources, public campaigns and a 24/7 peer-advocate led help service.

Healthy Kids, Healthy Families® (HKHF) began as a three-year initiative designed to improve the health and wellness of at least one million children through community investments by Blue Cross and Blue Shield plans in Illinois, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas. Reaching nearly three million children within the first two years, HKHF is now a signature program of the organization and part of an ongoing commitment to invest in and partner with nonprofit organizations that offer sustainable, measurable programs to reach children and their families in areas of nutrition, physical activity, disease prevention and management and supporting safe environments. Within the safe environments pillar, HKHF supports Loveisrespect to enhance their immediate, peer-to-peer assistance and other support services in addition to creating the Start Talking Campaign — the tailored, on-the-ground, direct community outreach, education and training found here and available throughout Illinois, Oklahoma, New Mexico and Texas.

Be Smart. Be Well. is an award-winning website that delivers life-story videos, expert interviews and in-depth articles on a variety of important health topics. With Loveisrespect’s guidance, Be Smart. Be Well. produced a dating abuse video quiz and video-awareness series to help teens and parents recognize the warning signs of abuse.

The Start Talking curriculum from loveisrespect is an innovative step forward in dating violence prevention education. From peer-led discussions, opportunities for participants to contribute their opinions and loveisrespect’s interactive tools integrated throughout the program, students will have the chance to define relationships in their terms and discover for themselves what it means to have a safe and healthy relationship.

Overview

The Start Talking curriculum consists of ten (10) 40-minute sessions, designed to be implemented either once a week (10 weeks) or twice weekly (5 weeks). We also provide guidelines to increase the session to 60 minutes through extended discussion and activities.

Sessions 1–6 focus on education, relationship skill development and rich investigations into media influence on teen dating perceptions and the experience of a survivor of abuse.

Sessions 7–10 challenge participants to pay their knowledge forward by implementing basic service-learning activities designed to spearhead a peer-led awareness movement in your school, program or community.

Innovation

First nationally available healthy relationship web-based instructional program

Youth will explore the dynamics of relationships and dating abuse through a pop culture lens, viewing clips from popular television programs and movies (thanks MTV and Lifetime!)

Activating Youth Leadership

Loveisrespect recognizes the impact, benefit and necessity of having peers lead this important conversation about healthy relationships. The Start Talking program requires two students to serve as peer leaders –- assisting in implementing activities and discussion during Sessions 1-6 and then taking a leadership role for the remaining sessions as they implement service-learning based advocacy activities.

Standards and Methodology

The Start Talking curriculum meets National Health Education Standards as well as individual health and life skill standards for Illinois, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas. The core educational content is based on an evidence-based curriculum as well as new content and activities authored by loveisrespect’s expert staff and consultants. The program was assessed during a significant development and pilot phase.

Loveisrespect believes young people have to lead the systemic and cultural change needed to end dating abuse. Through their service-learning experience, peer leaders and youth participants will receive an enriching, personal experience with the program.

Our Start Talking kit is designed to help you start the conversation about healthy relationships and encourage young people to take an active role in creating positive change in their relationships, schools and community.

Included in the kit:

The Start Talking curriculum: a new multiple-session dating-abuse-prevention and service-learning curriculum from loveisrespect, the experts on healthy relationships you know and trust

Our Sponsors

This project was supported by Grant Number 90EV0426 from the Administration on Children, Youth and Families, Family and Youth Services Bureau, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The opinions, findings, conclusions and recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Administration on Children, Youth and Families, Family and Youth Services Bureau, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

This website is funded in part through a grant from the Office for Victims of Crime, Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice. Neither the U.S. Department of Justice nor any or its components operate, control, are responsible for, or necessarily endorse, this website (including, without limitations, its content, technical infrastructure, and policies, and any services or tools provided).

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